Drivers to Face New Drug Test

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Now that the City of San Diego has made it legal to buy recreational marijuana starting in January 2018, authorities foresee an unavoidable increase in traffic accidents due to people choosing to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs through city streets. 
Although the sale of recreational marijuana is still not allowed anywhere in San Diego, the reality is that more and more people are not weighing the risks. Drug recognition experts say that not only do they identify drivers at DUI checkpoints who are driving under the influence of alcohol, but that they always also find people who have taken other drugs that greatly impair them. 
“Every day we see people who use drugs and drive. Where I work, we see this every day: at any checkpoint, there will be an officer arresting someone for driving under the influence of drugs, at least one a day, and what I am seeing now is that a lot of people are using amphetamines,” said San Diego Police Drug Recognition Expert Luis Sandoval.
Police have decided to get ahead of the statistics, which in the past three years have recorded 2,381 traffic accidents involving alcohol, 19 of which led to loss of life, and 2,257 to serious injury. As a result, and before people are consuming marijuana can be tallied into these statistics, local law enforcement is launching a new drug-detection system they hope will be implemented at every DUI checkpoint. 
“I have seen first-hand the devastation caused by driving while intoxicated, so helping to find [impaired drivers] with these breathalyzers and drug detectors will be a permanent part of our officers’ training, using two new drug-detection devices,” said San Diego Police chief Shelley Zimmerman.
Officers have begun to use the new Dräger Drug Test 5000 machines at checkpoints. The device performs an oral swab test that, in a similar way to breathalyzers, can give quick and accurate results regarding the presence of seven drugs in the system: amphetamine, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines, methadone, cocaine, opiates, and THC, the active substance in marijuana responsible for the high. 
Although these new devices are already deployed in San Diego, drivers can refuse to take the Dräger Drug Test 5000 test; however, officers are still empowered to detain the person and force them to submit to a blood test to determine if the driver was under the influence of any illegal drugs. 
The penalties for driving under the influence of drugs are the same as those for alcohol, which can reach more than $12,000 in fines, and even life in prison, depending on the damages caused while driving while intoxicated.

Author

Marinee Zavala